Sorin Frunzăverde (26 April 1960 – 3 November 2019) was a Romanian politician. He served as the Minister of National Defense of Romania on two occasions as well as the

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many different countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) * Minist ...

and Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental Protection. He was also the President of the

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

Council a member of the

Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament i ...

and a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 2007 to 2009. Formerly a member of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), he joined the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2012. In 2015, he was charged with influence peddling by the

National Anticorruption Directorate The National Anticorruption Directorate ( ro, Direcția Națională Anticorupție (DNA)), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office ( ro, Parchetul Național Anticorupție), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating ...

and convicted the following year. He received a two-year suspended sentence.

Biography

Early life and career

He was born on 26 April 1960 in

Bocșa Bocșa (; hu, Boksánbánya; german: Deutsch-Bokschan, Neuwerk) is a town in Caraș-Severin County, in the Banat region of Romania, with a population of 15,842 in 2011. The town is located in the northwestern part of the county, from the cou ...

, Caraș-Severin County, Romania and educated in Reșița. He graduated from metallurgical faculty of the

Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Politehnica din București) is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. 200 years of activity have been celebrated lately, as the university was founded in 1818.Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental Protection in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Victor Ciorbea Victor Ciorbea (; born on 26 October 1954) is a Romanian jurist, politician, and civil/public servant. He was the Mayor of Bucharest between 1996 and 1997 and, after his resignation from this public dignity/position, Prime Minister of Romania fr ...

. After

Radu Vasile Radu Vasile (; 10 October 1942 – 3 July 2013) was a Romanian politician, historian, and poet. Originally a member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD), Vasile served as the Prime Minister of Romania between 17 April 1 ...

became

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in 1998, Frunzăverde moved to the position of

. He twice served as

Minister of National Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

. The first appointment, from 13 March 2000 to 28 December 2000, came in the First cabinet of

Mugur Isărescu Constantin Mugur Isărescu (; born 1 August 1949) is the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, a position he has been holding since September 1990, with the sole exception of a period of time of eleven months (16 November 1999 to 28 October 2 ...

when President

Emil Constantinescu Emil Constantinescu () (born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the President of Romania, from 1996 to 2000. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president ...

chose him to replace defence minister

Victor Babiuc Victor Babiuc (; 3 April 1938 – 25 February 2023) was a Romanian jurist and politician. A former member of the Democratic Party (PD), and of the National Liberal Party (PNL), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bucharest in ...

, who had left the Democratic Party but refused to leave the ministerial post. He returned to the post from 25 October 2006 to 5 April 2007, in the first cabinet of

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...

after defence minister

Teodor Atanasiu Teodor Atanasiu (; born 23 September 1962) is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL), he was Ministry of National Defense (Romania), Minister of National Defence in the C� ...

resigned following a long running dispute with President

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

. He was a Member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, where he was the Head of the Romanian delegation to the EPP, vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Within the European Parliament, he was involved in the EU-Western Balkans dialogue, acting as a member in the Delegation for relations with the countries of south-east Europe and the Delegation to the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee. He pushed for his party to join the

European People’s Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...

group after having been affiliated with the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

Personal life

Frunzăverde was fluent in English, Italian, and German, and was married with one child. He died from kidney disease on 3 November 2019 at the age of 59.

References

External links

Curriculum Vitae at the Chamber of Deputies

European Parliament profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frunzaverde, Sorin 1960 births 2019 deaths People from Bocșa Romanian Ministers of Defence Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) MEPs for Romania 2007–2009 Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) MEPs Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Deaths from kidney disease